Halo: The Forgotten Spartan
by Razzamatronic
Summary: While the Spartans are being augmented a ultra top secret branch of ONI sector III kidnaps Spartan 024 and wipes him from the memories of everyone who knew him. My first stab at a halo fic hope you enjoy it. please forgive the lack of 'O's in cote 'd azur
1. Chapter 1

Halo: The forgotten Spartan.

A/N: I got bored last night and thought, "Hey, wouldn't it be cool of there was a Spartan than didn't exist in the games because nobody knew he existed?" so I called up everyone I knew and both of them though that it sounded like a good idea, so here is the end result. And if you don't like it please keep in mind that I wrote it to scratch a creative itch, and will possibly create another chapter, depending on feedback.

Prologue

This is the story of a Spartan, a Spartan that was wiped from the memory of anyone who knew him, and cast into the Human-Covenant war as a silent weapon, a secret guardian of the colonies, he is unknown to those who once knew him, he is a ghost to those who have seen him, he is Spartan-024. The Silent Knight of the UNSC.

Spartan II augmentation procedures, Dr. Halsey's personal office.

1330 Hours march 11, 2525 (Military Calendar) / Epsilon Eridani system, Office of Naval Intelligence Medical Facility, in orbit around planet Reach.  
She lay her head in her hands, groaning, Dr. Halsey had been up for three days, surviving on coffee and stim-packs, but she wanted to be awake for when her spartans finished their augmentations, she was at the end of her rope. After futilely fighting a wave of exhaustion, she slumped in her chair, dead asleep.  
Just after she started snoring, seven black clad men dropped from a vent, they moved through the lines of beds surrounded by fabric, they knew exactly which bed they were looking for.  
The first stopped at bed 024, they drew back the fabric curtain to reveal their target, their target had dark brown hair and a strong jaw, like the rest of the Spartans, he was hooked up to various machines and had many scars along his tanned muscular body, he was heavily sedated and his face was peaceful, until something caused him pain, and he groaned and shifted before returning to a restful state.  
The second man took out a small data pad, he began reading the display out loud but at a whisper.  
"Spartan 024, Quinn, 6'9", male, 170 lb., will be 200+ when the augmentations are fully settled in.". The fourth man nodded impatiently.  
"Yeah, yeah, yeah, now let's get him outta here." he moved to grab the handles of the gurney but the fifth person stopped him.  
"We need to erase all memories of him from everyones minds first.". She whispered, then each of the group produced a small, hat like machine and moved toward various parts of the vast medical room.  
The first man found Dr. Halsey asleep at her desk, he carefully lowered the device onto her head, when it powered on he carefully typed in a series of commands and watched as the device gave Halsey a targeted amnesia over all memories of Quinn-024.  
When they were finished wiping the memories of Mendez, and the spartans, the medical team was part of their group, they carefully rolled the gurney containing Quinn out of the room and into their prowler.

0000 Hours March 30, 2525 (Military Calendar) / UNSC carrier Atlas, en route to the Lambda Serpentis system.

"And so we commit the bodies of our fallen brothers to space"  
Mendez solemnly closed his eyes for a moment, the ceremony completed. He pressed a control and the ash canisters moved slowly into the ejection tubes...and the void beyond.  
John-117 stood rigidly at attention. The carrier's missile launch bays - normally cramped, overcrowded and bustling with activity - were unusually quiet. The Atlas's firing deck had been cleared of munitions and crew. Long, unadorned black banners now hung from the bay's overhead gantries.  
"Honors...ten hut!" Mendez barked.  
John and the other surviving spartans saluted in unison.  
"Duty," Mendez said. "Honor and self sacrifice. Death does not diminish these qualities in a soldier. We shall remember."  
A series of thumps resounded through the Atlas's hull as the canisters were hurled into space.  
John felt something in the back of his head, something that made him turn his head slightly to the left and glance at the main door, he could just make out a figure standing there, dressed in a large black cloak that obscured it's body while a hood covered it's face. The black opening in the figure's hood turned and stared back at him, he looked away quickly, and when he looked back a second later the figure was gone.

One day previous.

Quinn groaned as he woke, his muscles were burning and his bones ached, he opened his eyes and was rewarded with a jab of pain as the light hit his pupils.  
"Sir, he's awake.".  
"Good." Quinn turned his head in the direction of the sound, then cracked his left eye open, he realized that he was no longer on the ONI medical facility, a man stepped in front of the light.  
"Who are you?". Quinn croaked, having not drank for at least two days. The man shifted, his head haloed by the light he was blocking.  
"My real name is not important, but you may call me Slate, I work for a special division of ONI section Three, Section X, only a few people actually know of our existence ." Quinn heard a smirk in the man's voice and shifted, wincing as his arms and legs throbbed.  
"What am I doing here, where is here?" Slate snapped his fingers once.  
"Finally, we get to it, you are in a top secret facility far away from reach, I can not tell you where. But you are here because of your talents." that made no sense to quinn, all of the Spartans had talents.  
"What do you mean?". He rasped, slate handed him a cup of water which Quinn drank gratefully as slate continued explaining.  
"You are the first and only Spartan we have chosen because of your exceptional stealth,and hacking abilities, not to mention you are a spartan, these are skills that the UNSC and ONI need, you have been recruited for the DarkBlade project, we recruit the best assassins, hackers, melee experts and infiltrators to fight as a secret army, we recruited you because a new threat has presented itself at Harvest.". Quinn listened as Slate explained about the 'Covenant' and their attack on Harvest, when the man finally finished his briefing Quinn asked a question he had been meaning to ask since he woke.  
"How are the others?" Slate knew immediately what he was talking about, and lowered his shadowed head solemnly, causing it's light to shine in Quinn's eyes.  
"Only thirty-five made it, the rest died or were too deformed to continue as soldiers, a Spartan funeral is being held on the atlas en route to the Lambda Serpentis system, we can get you on if you wish, but you can not interact with any of the other Spartans, all people involved with the project have had their memories wiped of anything pertaining to you, and all record of you in their files have been destroyed, officially, you never existed.". Quinn nodded.  
"Very well."

One day later, Atlas's missile bay.

Quinn stood by the main entrance, a large black cloak was obscuring his body, except for a strip down the center, it was clasped to him with two red half-spheres on his shoulders and a chain. He wore his hood, watching and listening as Mendez lead the ceremony, and the ash tubes were ejected into space, suddenly John-117,  
the leader, glanced over at him, Quinn looked back.  
"You may not know me anymore brother, but I will never forget who my family is.". He turned and walked out when John glanced away, heading for the prowler he had come in on.

0245 Hours November 29 (Military Calendar) / unnamed ONI instillation.

Quinn sat up on his cot when Slate's voice crackled over the intercom.  
"Chief petty officer Quinn-24, report to the equipment testing section ASAP." Quinn got up and pulled a teeshirt over his lean muscled chest and arms before throwing his cloak on, he pressed the door control and it slid open.  
When he opened the equipment testing room door, there was slate and three techs standing around a suit of grey armor, Quinn moved forward to inspect it.  
"It is the new MJOLNIR armor, Dr. Halsey gave the other Spartans theirs about ten hours ago, only Spartans can use it." explained the ONI man, as Quinn circled the armor, running his hand over the non-reflective grey plates.  
"There is one change to the original design, we made more plates, they are thinner, but give you better overall protection and better mobility." the dark Spartan nodded appreciatively. Slate gestured to the suit.  
"Try it out." the techs ordered Quinn to strip down, so he did, hanging his cloak over a chair, then he stood on the platform and allowed the techs to assemble the suit around him.  
When the suit was finally assembled Quinn stood in the same position as instructed, the techs moved away and one put on a headset.  
"Alright, raise you left arm to chest level." Quinn moved his left arm as slow as possible, it blurred into motion and stopped at chest height, he gasped.  
"Holy crap." he said, Slate grinned. Then his communicator beeped, he checked it and looked up.  
"Run him through the obstacle course, I'll be back in a few minutes.". He said and walked out. The tech proceeded to instruct Quinn on how to get used to the speed, strength and extra abilities the suit offered him, he was able to punch through two feet of concrete easily, put a sizable dent in 1.5 feet of titanium A,  
jump three plus meters, run at speeds of up to 55km/h and his reaction was increased tenfold, the suit made him feel like he could dodge bullets. He had finished the course twice and was going through it for the third time with his cloak on when Slate returned, he looked proud that the Spartan had mastered the suit with his trademark cloak on.  
"It's good to see you've gotten accustomed to the suit, now we can test it in some real combat, the covvies are moving in sector 8.". Quinn grinned as he took off his helmet.

0600 Hours July 18 2552 (Military Calendar) / Sigma Octanus IV, C te d' Azur.

Quinn was a shadow as he snuck down the streets of C te d' Azur, there was rubble strewn everywhere along with bodies of civilians, marines and some covenant. He froze in the shadows as a patrol of grunts passed a mere two meters away, his black cloak covering his grey armored body, he was grateful that he had decided not to use a helmet, that would reflect light, instead he wore special contact lenses that projected images exactly like a HUD. As they passed his position the squat aliens barked and yipped in their doglike language, he let them pass and tailed them, he made sure his cloak covered him and that his hood was over his head.  
He followed the six aliens silently for five minutes, until they were heading in the general direction he suspected that their command center was located at, toward the center of the city, now he knew for sure that their CP was there.  
He drew close to the rear pair of grunts, one was slightly behind the other so he went for it first, grabbing the creature's face and breaking it's neck, he placed it on the ground silently, then did the same with the other one.  
He was about to knife the third grunt when the leader tapped something that Quinn supposed was directed at the rearguard, but when they did not answer, the remaining four grunts turned and barked in surprise and fear at the cloaked figure that stood behind them, the nearest backed into it's fellow while the leader tried to bring it's plasma pistol into line.  
Quinn lunged forward, his right hand flashed out from under his cloak and the tips of his fingers rammed into its sternum, caving in it's chest cavity, his left hand with the knife slashed the throat of another grunt, the final alien barked and tried to run but Quinn's knife ruptured it's methane tank, the grunt went spinning across the pavement before it finally slamming against a car.  
He listened for a moment, trying to discern if the attack had been heard, sure enough he heard several jackals screech and move in, the glow from their shields allowing Quinn to see them before they got too close, he melted into the shadows and hid his knife hand in the recesses of his cloak as to keep the blade from reflecting light.  
Three birdlike aliens appeared from around a corner, they swept the area with their pistols before moving toward the grunt bodies, foolishly they left their rear unguarded as they chattered among themselves and inspected the corpses.  
Quinn swiftly moved in, his cloak billowing I his wake. The first alien was grabbed from behind, letting out a muffled squawk, the other two spun and fired, Quinn used the jackal's shield for his own, the plasma bolts splashed against the barrier, he grabbed the jackal's pistol as well and returned fire, to his frustration the remaining aliens ducked behind their shields, he swore and held down the firing trigger, charging a large green blob.  
When the pistol was fully charged he aimed for the triangular spot between the aliens where their round shields touched the ground and each other, but did not touch at the base.  
The pavement melted from the heat and the aliens were toppled, he raced forward and stepped down on ones throat, snapping it even as he shot the other in the face, alien blood sprayed across the road.  
Something else had to have heard that so he left the scene and continued on his course to the Covenant CP, albeit in a roundabout way.

1800 hours July 18 2552 (Military Calendar) / Sigma Octanus IV, C te d' Azur.

Quinn had just reached the last two kilometers of his journey to the Covenent CP on the planet, it had taken so long because he had taken a very long route, and had rescued twenty civilians and hidden them inside a cargo ship along the docks, three covenant ships now hung over the city, they were dropping more troops,  
so he had a short window to get into their CP. Quinn was slipping past a rather large covenant patrol consisting of seven jackals, ten grunts and three floating creatures, he cursed himself for not having a helmet cam installed, but there was a risk of someone somehow hacking his cam and knowing what he was doing and had done for as long as the thing was recording.  
Just as he slipped into the adjacent alleyway his comm system crackled, a transmission on a secure channel, he activated his receivers, it was covenant, heavily encrypted, he recorded as much as he could, but after a few minutes it stopped, his comm system said that it had been tightened up and he could only get it if he found the source, but just as he was about to move, his comm picked up a transmission on the Spartan channel.  
"Green team, come in." John, the Master Chief himself.  
"Roger: Green team leader here," Linda. "We've scouted the residential section," a pause. "No survivors...just like Draco three. We're too late." Quinn remembered Draco three, he had been sent there under orders to get some very top secret DarkBlade research. John continued conversing with the other Spartans.  
"Green team: stand by and prepare to fall back to tue RV and secure the area."  
"Standing by."  
"Red team, report."  
This time Joshua answered.  
"Red leader, sir. We've got something for ONI. We've spotted some new type of covenant race. Little guys that float. They seem to be some sort of explored or scientist type. They take things apart, then move on, like their looking for something. They do not, repeat do not appear hostile. Advise that you do not engage. They raise a pretty loud alarm, Blue lead."  
"You in trouble?"  
"Dodged trouble, sir," joshua replied, then. "There is one snag,"  
"Go ahead" the Master chief replied after a second of silence.  
"We have survivors. Twenty civilians in a cargo ship, several wounded but they have been tended to, said they were rescued by a large black-cloaked man, mean anything to you?". John had a flashback to the day of the funeral for all the spartans who had died in the augmentation procedures, he recalled the moment when he saw the figure dressed in a black cloak that went down to about three inches above the floor, he flashed back to the present, none of the spartans were aware that the same man was listening in.  
"Negative" MC replied, he mulled over this snag then made his decision.  
"New mission objective, Red team leader, get those civilians to the recovery point and evac them back to the fleet." he switched to all team channels.  
"Green team leader, you still online?"  
"Roger"  
"Move to the docks and coordinate with red team, they have survivors we need to evac, green team leader has strategic control of the mission." Linda paused before replying.  
"Understood, we're on our way.".  
"Affirmative sir, we'll get it done." Joshua said.  
"Blue team out, if anyone catches a glimpse of this cloaked man, do not fire, but try and get a good look at him or take him in." there was a pair of 'rogers' then MC switched the comm off.  
Quinn slumped against the wall of the alley, the civvies were safe, good. Suddenly he snapped to, the covenant might have been eavesdropping, he scanned frequencies, and sure enough he found a spike leading from the Spartan teamcomm to the covenant CP net, it was a once in a lifetime chance for the covenant because the spartans' comm system was very secure, it had just lagged that one time, but it lead them straight to Green team, as if to add insult to injury, two covenant Spirit drop ships slowly rose from the surrounding city and touched down in the CP to load up. The Dark Spartan hesitated before jumping as high as he could and scaling a building, when he reached the top he produced four medium blobs of explosives and inserted the timers and waited.  
The instant the first drop-ship cleared the tops of the buildings, he threw the first pair of plastic explosives, they split up in midair but both collided within two meters of each other, near the pilot area, he hit the detonator. The ensuring blast split the forks off and sent the remains of the drop-ship's body dribbling down, Quinn's cloak billowed behind him,the second drop-ship met a similar but less spectacular fate, that was one problem taken care of. But Covie ground patrols would be all over Red and Green teams, so he needed to intercept them as well.  
Once he had arrived to the position where the container ship had been he spotted dozens of grunts and jackals, and with his enhanced vision he could just make out the small cluster of dots that was red and green teams escorting the civilians. The covenant force began searching around the ship and soon found the tracks left by the humans, they began following the trail.  
Quinn trailed them as he produced another quartet of explosive blobs, he primed the detonators and lobbed them into the midst of the aliens.  
The explosion that followed him pressing the detonation button threw several alien body parts into the air along with a plume of blood-soaked dirt.  
Chaos spread through the two dozen shaken survivors as they scrambled around, barking and squawking in confusion. He primed the second pair of makeshift bombs and threw them, another eight grunts and five jackals died, the last fifteen turned and finally noticed the cloaked figure. They aimed their weapons at him and fired.  
Quinn used his augmented speed to dodge out of the way, the sand was peppered with plasma in his wake, he lunged forward and grabbed a jackal, snapping it's neck as he retreated backward, placing the armguard on his right wrist as he ran circles around the covenant.  
He fired the pistol at a cluster of grunts, they squealed and toppled. Green plasma splashed across the jackal shield that Quinn snapped on. He charged the pistol and fired at a trio of jackals that were hiding behind their shields, the shot drained their shields, forcing the jackals to abandon the armguards and try to find cover.  
Quinn's shield flickered as another volley of plasma hit it, he used the last of his pistol's energy to fire a charged shot at the ground, the shot sprayed sand and glass into the aliens, he took this distraction to toss the jackal shield aside, draw his knife and charge into the last seven covenant, casting the pistol into a grunt with enough force to imbed into it's skull.  
He slashed and punched the few aliens that remained, he stood there for a moment in the center of a small field of bodies, he winced and looked down at his waist, three plasma bolts had hit him, the armor plates were melted and the skin underneath was burnt, he quickly applied a cream and bandage, then he turned and headed into the woods,  
in a general direction of his extraction ship.  
On the nearby hill, overlooking the cargo ship, linda picked up her sniper and jogged back to the dropship, Joshua was standing by the ramp.  
"Well, any covenant following us?" he asked shifting his weight forward, she shook her head and approached.  
"Not anymore, you should see this.". She transmitted the feed from her helmet cam. The other Spartan was silent as he watched the cloaked man destroy over two dozen covenant soldiers with a plasma pistol and knife, then walk away.  
"Impressive, we need to show this to the chief." she bobbed her head in agreement. But something about the way that man fought and walked nagged at her memory, but she could not recall anyone. Little did she know that joshua was thinking the same thing.  
Quinn had just made it to his extraction ship and was priming it for launch when his comm beeped, he checked the frequency, X-band, his channel with Slate and the DarkBlade program, he clicked the audio on the main console. Slate's voice drifted through the speakers.  
"Quinn, have you infiltrated the covenant CP yet? What is their plan?"  
"Negative, I didn't get in, the spartans were deployed in the city and some found several civvies, but the covenant were making a move so I had to help out, and they were about to prime a nuke." slate mumbled something. Quinn remembered the signal he had intercepted. "But I did intercept a covenant transmission, heavily encrypted.  
"Very well, just get out of there."  
"I'm already in the extraction craft, on my way to point Delta."  
"Slate out." Quinn shut down the comm system and fired the engines. The craft shot up and began slicing through the air, he activated the stealth systems in preparations for space. A few minutes later, just as he broke the cloud-cover a sun blossomed on the surface, the nuke had been detonated, the battle of sigma Octanus IV was over.

1115 Hours August 12 2552 (Military Calendar) / Epsilon Eridani system, Reach UNSC Military complex, planet Reach, camp Hathcock

Quinn took a deep breath of the crisp air, he had just gotten back to reach from a mission against the covenant in the Scorpio system, he was here on Slate's request, as a witness to what the covenant were doing in the city.  
He approached the gate in a warthog, the trio of marine guards were visibly unnerved by the presence of a man in a jet-black cloak, his face completely hidden,  
he handed his ONI pass over and they waved him through after a thorough database check, he moved up the road, and was instructed to park in the visitors area, and entered the rustic looking building.  
He entered an elevator that dropped him a hundred meters below the surface, when he exited the lift he was instructed by marine guards to wait in the lounge, he stood in a shadow corner, a habit he had gotten into, there was almost no one he trusted aside from Slate, the Spartans and their creator, Dr. Halsey, the marine guard at the door kept glancing nervously at him, and looked like he might say something like 'take off your cloak' but kept quiet.  
Dr. Halsey exited the dark briefing room, she glanced at the guard, who asked on edge, she looked to a darkened corner when he continued to cast glances in that direction, a lone figure stood there, a tall person with a large cloak that covered their entire body, the person nodded to her from under the hood, she nodded back and walked out, deep in thought, passing a man with raven hair and an aura of smug confidence that intelligence officers seemed to carry, he nodded to her as they passed, and walked into the briefing room as the doors parted for him.  
Quinn was summoned into the room after a few minutes, he strode in, standing beside Slate and going into attention under his cloak, saluting the dark figures that sat in a semicircle around the center of the room.  
After the briefing Quinn and Slate walked along the barbed wire fence of camp Hathcock, slate was almost genuinely happy.  
"Nice job at C te d' Azur Quinn, even though you did not get into the covenant CP, you did manage to assist in the securing of several civilian witnesses, they really gave ONI an insight into what these new creatures are, and our techs are working on that transmission you intercepted.". He paused for a moment, and his expression grew serious.  
"Although I am worried about you letting the Spartans see you like that, are you trying to get in touch?" Quinn let out a snort.  
"No, I did not know that that a Spartan was there looking for tailing enemy forces.". Slate decided to believe him and dropped the subject.

A/N: Just wanted to see how I'd do writing a Halo fanfic, I'll do a second chapter most likely and see how it goes. I also have a N.O.V.A (iPod game) fanfic in the works,  
chapter one should be out in a week or so. Thanks for reading! PS, Read my Mass Effect fanfic, ME3: Retribution, now completed! 


	2. Chapter 2

Halo: The Forgotten Spartan

A/N: I just wanted to let my readers know, occasionally in this story, I will use material that is just straight out of the Halo books. I do not own Halo or anything associated with Halo.  
I also appologise for the shortness of this chapter, school is murder on my writing time.  
Chapter 2 0800 Hours, August 27, 2552 (Military Calendar) / Epsilon Eridani System, FLEETCOM Military Complex, planet Reach

This was the third time Quinn had been secretly listening in on the Spartans briefing inside the top secret, highly secure briefing room, and he listened intently, Dr. Halsey was explaining the details of the plan to capture a prophet. As usual, DarkBlade knew that this briefing was taking place, and wanted an agent present. And they were also thinking about sending one along, undercover.  
He waited until the briefing was over and all the Spartans had left before exiting, he had not recorded anything as per mission orders, it was for his eyes only, and for him to brief whatever agent they sent.  
He entered his Prowler and took off.

0600 Hours, August 29, 2552 (Military Calendar) / Epsilon Eridani System, UNSC Military Reservation 01478-B, planet Reach

Quinn watched through the bases security cameras as the Master Chief approached the gate in a warthog, he was waved through after showing his papers to the ODSTs on guard, heading for the prefabricated structure.  
"Think he'll pass the test?". Asked Jack, a DarkBlade operative who had helped Quinn set up the course that the MC would soon be attempting to cross, the mines and turrets were their job, as was the SkyHawk waiting at Fairchild airfield, ordered to shoot but not kill, the missiles that it carried could at the worst, render the chief immobile for a few days if they scored a direct hit, and the fifty millimeter slugs were equipped with narq tips, and would crack but not pierce armor, they didn't want the chief to die, the rest of the preparations were left to Colonel Ackerson. "He'll make it.". Replied Quinn, who watched another camera, the chief was getting the AI enhancements to his neural implant completed. Quinn had just undergone the same thing, but his AI was taking a little more time to be created, they wanted to make sure that the same type of implants Quinn had would work on the Chief.  
They watched as he was introduced to the new MJOLNIR shields and Cortana, although Dr. Halsey had no idea they were watching, they has also overseen the creation of Cortana.  
As Quinn predicted, John completed the course, with a few injuries, but the missile deflection tactic had allowed him time to ring the bell.  
"Told you.". He said to Jack, elbowing him jokingly. The neural implant upgrades had worked perfectly. Now he only needed to wait for his AI to come online.

0400 Hours, August 30, 2552 (Military Calendar) / UNSC Pillar of Autumn, in orbit around Epsilon Eriadni system, Reach Military complex.

Cortana never rested. Although based approximately on a human mind, AIs had no need to sleep or dream. Dr. Halsey had thought she could keep Cortana occupied by checking the systems of the Pillar of Autumn while she attended to her other secret projects.  
Her assumption was incorrect.  
While Cortana was intrigued with the unique design and workings of the ship―it's preparation occupied barely a fraction of her processing power.  
She watched with the Pillar of Autumns' camera as captain Keyes approached the ship in a shuttle pod. Lieutenant Hikowa left to greet him in the docking bay.  
From C deck, Captain Keyes spoke over the intercom:  
"Cortana? Can we have power to move the ship? I'd like to get underway.".  
She calculated the remaining reactor burn-in time and made an adjustment to run it hotter. "The engines' final shakedown is in Theta cycle," Cortana replied. "Operating well within normal parameters. Diverting thirty percent power to engines; aye, sir."  
"And the other systems' status?". Keyes asked.  
Weapons system check initiated. Navigational nodes functioning. Continuing systemwide shakedown and triple checks, captain."  
"Very good," he said. "Apprise me if there are any anomalies.".  
"Aye captain." she replied.  
The COM channel snapped off.  
After a quick excursion into the personnel files and a quick change in Colonel Ackersons' file, requesting reassignment to the front, a little revenge for the troubles on the obstacle course.  
As she examined his CSV, she noticed that everything before his entrance into active service was blacked out, a trace back to the source led her to Dr. Halsey's group, interesting.  
She hacked into the ONI files and downloaded everything she could on him, then she noticed an anomy in the spartan II program records, it showed that seventy five children had been selected, and during the augmentation procedures all but Thirty three were killed or disfigured, but she spotted an anomaly, the number had been changed recently, a mere couple of months ago, someone had edited the files, she flipped through, and noticed a lot of changes in the same week, someone was trying to cover up something, was there another Spartan, or was one dropped out and he records changed, she tasked a small portion of herself on a passive and constant but careful search for more data.

Quinn silently maneuvered his Prowler onto a secluded docking hatch on the underside of the Autumn, there were no motion detectors in this particular spot, and he was Dark, so he docked undetected, he popped the seal and floated out, he was wearing a UNSC naval uniform and carried a duffle so he would blend in. He also carried a small chip that glowed green, his AI, Saber, the AI was much like Cortana, but not as quirky, and slightly more restricted in his socializations, more like a soldier, but not too much. When he took 'human form' he resembled a dark green clad ninja wearing a black silklike sash.  
He slotted Saber into his neural implants, and an icy spike hit the inside of his forehead, he gave an almost unnoticeable wince, and heard the AI inside his head.  
"Hello Quinn, nice to finally meet you in person.". Quinn ducked through a hatch and closed it, pressing a button the gravity engaged, dropping him to the floor. "Nice to meet you too Saber, I hope your comfortable in there, 'cause you might be up there for a while once he mission starts. DarkBlade had selected him to go on the mission, he was their best, but they had also sent along a ONI lieutenant the had recruited two months ago, Haverson.  
"I'll be fine," Saber replied. "just don't die and I won't complain.". Quinn smirked at the comment, he walked down the corridors of the ship, heading for his bunk, all of his armor and weapons were stashed on the Prowler.  
Several soldiers gave him strange looks, 'I probably stick out, being seven feet tall and well muscled.' he thought, 'better stay away from the Spartans.". He dropped his bag on the bunk and lay down, promptly falling asleep.

As the Pillar was underway, a message was received, the covenant were spotted near reach, the Pillar was turned around and the crew readied for battle.  
Quinn woke with a start, alarms sounded and Saber was calling to him. "Quinn! Finally! You're a heavy sleeper, the covenant are attacking reach!". Like a blot of lighting he shot up and raced for his prowler.  
"Shit!". He punched in the code and floated down to the hatch, his armor was set on a pedestal, he donned it and his cloak in a few minutes, then he booted up all systems,  
shields, AI interface and cloak, DarkBlade had given his armor the first armor integrated prototype of the human version for covenant personal camouflage. He holstered two pistols to his hip and a few grenades, his weapons would normally not be suited for heavy classes of enemies, but his pistols were modified to fire the rounds at a higher speed and heat them, so they did more damage to shields with the small thermal pulse they released on impact.  
Cortana was monitoring the entire ship, and noticed when someone, a new crew member, entered code into a concealed panel and disappeared into a newly formed passage, which was not listed in any of her schematics of the Halcyon class cruiser. But she had almost no time to deal with that, it was intriguing so she kept a small eye on it, and turned her attention to he covvie ship that had just entered firing range.

A/N: That's the end of chapter 2, please review and tell me if you think Quinn should go to Halo, or stay on Reach with the remaining spartans and Halsey when the Pillar of Autumn heads for Halo. The one that gets the most votes will be the choice I make, if it is a tie or no one reviews, then I'll decide, so you'll just have to go with it, but I'd really like to see what you readers think. 


	3. AN

Hey everyone, the chapter updates will be a little dry for at least two weeks, i'll try to speed things up but i'm really busy with other stuff, please remember to leave a review of my story when you read it. THX 


	4. Chapter 3

Halo: The Forgotten Spartan

A/N: Hello again, I just wanted all my readers to know, the updates may come a little less or a little more frequently, depending on how my weeks go, so please, while you are waiting for me to update the next chapter, read ME3: Retribution, or N.O.V.A 3. But I plan on having this fic at least ten chapters long or more. There will be little action in this chapter, because it is a buildup. I promise there will be more in the following two.

Chapter 3

Quinn contacted Slate once he was fully geared up, the DarkBlade director's face appeared, although covered by shadow Quinn could tel he was worried.  
"Saber tells me that the covenant have found reach sir". "Yes, the covenant have found reach and are attacking it as we speak.". "Orders?". Slate considered the question for a moment.  
"You are authorized to interact with the Spartans Quinn, just remember, do not let them find out that you are a Spartan, now I am...". The screen fizzed out as Cortana detonated the port emergency thrusters to dodge something, then the screen resolved itself. "repeat, I am promoting you to the rank of captain, that means you have command of the Spartans if the need arises.". Quinn saw his IFF tag projected across his vision, it blinked and the rank went up to the pair of silver bars of a captain. Slate continued. "Do not take command unless it is absolutely necessary." Quinn nodded and closed the secure channel.  
He got into the pilot seat of his prowler, the 'Resolve' and detached it from the secret clamps. Quinn made the ship dark and keyed the thrusters, he maneuvered the stealth ship up alongside the Pillar of Autumn. Saber's voice crackled over the intercom as Quinn slotted the AI's chip into the ship's main systems. "Quinn, I have taken the liberty of tapping all inter-ship and comm messages from the Autumn, and the majority of the Spartans are going groundside to defend the orbital MAC platform generators.". "Copy, see if they need a lift.". A UNSC prowler could normally hold a crew of over one hundred, but it currently held the dark spartan and his AI.  
Cortana was conversing with the Master Chief and Captain Keyes when a transmission came to her attention, a quick backtrack of the origin revealed a UNSC prowler cruising alongside the Autumn.  
"Captain, Chief, you should hear this.". She patched the message through.  
"Pillar of Autumn, this is the Resolve, we have heard of your plan to send the Spartans groundside, and would like to offer our services, we could get them to the surface in half the time.". The chief and keyes both visibly stiffened, this person must have been monitoring their comms. After a quick conversation with the chief, the captain fabricated a reply.  
"Cortana, tel the Resolve to dock in five, and read for a lot of heavy equipment.". "Yes sir.". She sent the proper counterresponse.  
"Sir, they want us to dock in five." said Quinn's AI.  
"Good, Saber take control, keep us on course until docking time.". Quinn swiveled the chair to face the communication panel. He brought up the secure DarkBlade line and punched in Slate's contact code. The man appeared and cocked his head. "Any problems?". Quinn shook his head.  
"No sir, but I am taking the Spartans to ground in the resolve, and new orders, well drop out of contact once we enter the main battle area.".  
"Negative, good luck.". Slate shut down the Channel from his end, and Quinn sat back, busying himself with suit diagnostics and weapon checks. After what seemed to be an eternity Saber spoke up. "Sir, Spartan 117 is contacting us. Quinn activated his personal comm, John's voice filtered through.  
"Resolve, this is Spartan-117, my Spartans are ready to go groundside. Dock on the port airlock.". "Copy, docking now.". Quinn let Saber pilot the ship, when they neared the airlock it extended clamps that locked onto the Resolve and sealed the locks. "We are docked, send them over.". Said Saber, the doors opened and the Spartans began carrying their gear in, John, Linda and James were not among them. "Quinn, the Master Chief, Linda and Joshua are not coming to ground, they are tasked with the safe destruction of a unpurged database aboard station Gamma, Fred is in command.". "Understood.". With his enhanced hearing Quinn heard the sound of a Spartan approaching the bridge, Quinn stood and faced the door. Fred entered, at first he thought that no one was on the bridge, then a slight rustle of fabric brought his eyes to a figure in the corner, whoever it was, they were almost completely still, then the hood dipped slightly, a nod. "Welcome aboard Spartan.". The voice was male, fred snapped to attention. "Spartan 104 reporting!" The figure raised a hand and returned the salute, but it was a casual salute, as if he rarely saluted anyone, but given the way he was dressed, he probably didn't officially exist. "There is no need for formalities Spartan, are you and your people ready?". "Yes, when are we dropping?". "Now, you should go aft with your team.". Fred turned on his heel and strode out, feeling the ship detach from the Autumn, he cast a glance back, the man turned to a holo tank and a green AI appeared, the two seemed to be conversing, the doors closed.  
Quinn slotted Saber into his head, winced as the icy spike was driven into his brain then warmed. "Are you sure you can remote pilot the ship from that distance?".  
He asked, Saber replied as one explaining a simple question to a child. "I told you, the range is not as great as you think, it will stay within range.". Quinn was skeptical but saber was almost always correct, he holstered his dual pistols and grabbed a collapsed assault rifle, the rifle was essentially a grip and trigger with a very short butt and body, but when he gripped the handle it extended into a full sized AR. He also grabbed a bandolier of grenades and a second knife. The rifle was placed on the magnetic clamps in the small of his back.  
Quinn made his way to the small hangar, the twenty-seven Spartans were checking their gear and loading weapons, several looked up and he knew that all of them were assessing him, he dipped his head in a small nod. "Saber, how long until we reach the complexes?". "Entering the atmosphere now.".  
The ship bumped slightly, and all the spartans grabbed their weapons and gear, a seven man team was positioned as a front guard. The ship touched down, Fred was giving orders, Quinn ran a silent comm tap on the Spartan channel, not really needing to hear what was said, but ordered Saber to listen in and notify him of anything of interest.  
The door hissed as it opened and the pressure equalized, it was smoky, the seven man team ran out into the aftermath of a massive battle, hundreds maybe thousands of bodies from both sides and dozens of vehicles, smoldering tanks, slagged warthogs, shattered ghosts, specters and wraiths, and thousands of weapons, some bodies still smoldered from plasma fire.  
The Spartan front guards spread out while the rest unloaded the gear, without a minute they were finished, Saber remote piloted the Prowler to a safe hiding spot three kilometers distant.  
As they approached the complex, they were relived to find the buildings intact, and they also spotted a group of four marines, moving slowly through the carnage, aimlessly, the Spartans contacted them and warned of approach.  
While the Spartans got as much information out of the marines as they could, Quinn activated his light-bending camouflage and moved off. He angled toward a small blue dot on his HUD, used by DarkBlade to indicate a pickup or priority objective, Quinn had received it seconds after landing.  
Seven minutes later he located a platoon of dead marines the marker was carried by a now deceased DarkBlade operative, marked by the small black sword tattoo just behind his ear, he had been blow in half by half of a tree, something had bombed the Forrest and killed all these marines, he moved nearer and looked for the source of the signal.  
The operative had been carrying a small gauntlet sized piece of equipment, an orbital strike satellite targeting gun, he placed it in a pouch and searched the man thoroughly. The marker was being transmitted by a very small data chip, which Quinn slotted into a port, Saber passed through the security in a matter of seconds and the information was readily available to the Spartan and his AI.  
The small chip contained data on certain unknown artifacts collected at Cote d' Azur and other planets, in fact, Dr. Halsey had a dig site, unearthing the same type of artifacts, only much larger. "This DarkBlade operator must have been moving with the platoon so he could slip away and deliver the data when the bombs fell.". Said saber, Quinn nodded slowly, and closed the man's eyes. "Sir, activity on the Spartan comm.". As he snuck back, Quinn listened to Will and Joshua make their reports, Will had found some nukes and Joshua had discovered a covenant ship deploying troops in the opposite valley. At one point, Admiral whitcomb contacted them, looking for extraction Fred separated Anton, Grace, Li and Beth to extract the Admiral. He selected Will, Issac, Vinh, Ben and Alexander along with the four marines, and sent them to CASTLE base, to secure the Spartans' fallback position, he selected Joshua, Kelly and himself to deal with the cruiser, and the rest of the Spartans to defend the generators, Quinn homed in on Fred's signal.  
Spartan-104 was just making his way down to the ground when something moved a few meters to his left, he drew his pistol and aimed, there was a ripple and the cloaked man appeared a few feet to the right of where he was aiming. "You're jumpy.". He said, as Fred lowered with weapon, and continued walking to where he was meeting Joshua and Kelly. "Look, if we are going to be working together for the next while, what do I call you?". Fred asked, tilting his head toward the cloaked man keeping pace with him. "Quinn, my name is Quinn.". "No squad, no number?". "Just Quinn.". "Understood.".  
They arrived at the same time as Kelly, Joshua was still gathering supplies. Fred told them the plan to fly over in banshees and toss the nuke into the covenant ship, Quinn spoke up.  
"I think I know how we can get there with a little less resistance.". He held up the targeting gun. "I'll take a banshee, slip around to the opposite side and trigger it, distracting the covenant then head back, we can meet here.". He marked a spot on the HUD. "That could work, let's do it.". Said Fred, at that moment Joshua drove up, his warthog loaded with jackhammers and ammo tubes for them.  
Quinn left them and grabbed the most intact Warthog he could find, inside the rear section, he found six auto turrets, they would come in handy. He gunned the engine, and stayed as fast as possible without hitting any of the rocks, debris and trees on his way.  
He could see the three banshees in the distance, flying over the intervening ridge. Quinn arrived on the south side of the covenant lines minutes before Fred and the others were scheduled to toss the nuke, he took aim at a cluster of shade turrets and tents, it was a distance shot but manageable. A red circle appeared on his HUD and he turned the flier around, heading for the rendezvous point.  
A quartet of small MAC rounds roared through the clouds en route to their target area. The covenant looked up, or more importantly, away from the trio of Spartan controlled Banshees, the rounds obliterated any mechanical or living thing in the radius, and Quinn tossed a few grenades to mop up the survivors, he also sprayed a half-clip of AR bullets in that direction, several dozen pissed off grunts, jackals and elites charged toward his position, he abandoned the 'hog and activated his camo.  
Fred, Kelly and Joshua arrived at the cruiser's grav lift, Kelly threw the nuke into the bell of the ship and the Spartans banked away. The covenant were focused on the attack on their flanks, and oblivious to the banshees. Quinn had set up a small number of automatic turrets.  
The trio arrived at the meeting point, Quinn was sitting there, behind a tree, he had both pistols out and his cloak on, but he deactivated it when he saw the others.  
Another sun was born over the ridge, and the cruiser was transformed into the largest fragmentation grenade in history. The top of the ridge shattered from the shockwave.  
When the light died down, they all knew what lay across the shattered ridge, a crater of smoldering ash and glass, ten thousand covenant dead and no spartan losses.  
Quinn straightened, he looked into the sky and pointed. "We've got more inbound covenant cruisers!, they're headed for the generators, tell your Spartans to fall back!". Fred looked up and saw three faint shadows gliding through the clouds, he activated his comm. "Delta team: fall back! Fall back now!". He heard several Spartans speaking at once, he couldn't tell who but it was obvious they were moving, but would it be enough to save them? 


	5. Chapter 4

Halo: The Forgotten Spartan

A/N: sorry about the short chapters, I hope to bring them back up in content, thanks to everyone who has reviewed my story, I appreciate the feedback. And also a reminder, if possible, please leave a review once you've read my story, I like to hear what you have to say about my story, if you don't like it, then my feelings won't be hurt.

Chapter 4

The trio of covenant cruisers fired a volley, and plumes of smoke, fire and dust erupted over the hills in the direction of the generator complexes. Fred broadcast a warning to FLEETCOM.

He could only watch as the powerful plasma artillery blasted their objective, and his brothers and sisters, to atoms. "We need to move Spartans,". Said Quinn, he stood and activated his camo. "Well move toward the resolve, if we encounter the others on our way then we'll pick them up, but if we wait for them we will die, those cruisers will be patrolling soon.". They began to move out whe the clouds parted and a giant plasma ball one hundred meters across roared over their position "That's it," Kelly murmured. "We've lost. Reach is going to fall." the plasma impacted upon the horizon and the sky turned white then faded to black as millions of tones of ash and debris blotted of the sun.

"Maybe,". Fred said, he jacked the slide of his assault rifle and shouldered the Jackhammer launcher. "Maybe not, we're not done yet.".

It was a full hour before they arrived at the Prowler, They had encountered no other Spartans on their way, and the three cruisers were sending banshee patrols that were branching out in all directions. Quinn had Saber remotely start the ship as they boarded.

"Sir, the Pillar of Autumn in reentering the atmosphere, reason unknown, but it is the perfect opportunity to link up with them.". "Punch it!". Replied Quinn, the ship lurched and shot forward, several banshees banked toward them at extreme range, but the speed of the ship and distance were too great.

They could see the small speck in the distance that was the Autumn, and there were tiny explosions in the air above a small facility near the starboard side, and a covenant cruiser glided closer, it's main plasma projector charging.

Saber magnified the image, someone was manning the small MAC turret, and using it to destroy the phantoms, a pelican docked with the Autumn. As the cruiser was about to fire, the turret swiveled around and scored a shot directly into the firing port, disabling the projector. "Saber, home in on the IFF tag of whoever is inside that turret.". Said Quinn, moving toward the landing ramp. "The IFF is under the sign Noble.". "Is there any way for them to get to the Autumn?". "No sir, my guess is they stayed behind to cover the escape.". Quinn gripped a handle. The autumn fired it's ventral in-orbit thrusters and slowly lifted off. "Get us close and pick them up.". "Sir, that would put us behind the Autumn and we could possibly miss their escape jump.". "Well then patch through to Cortana and have her send the coordinates so we can follow!". "Yes sir.". Saber unlocked the ramp, they were two kilometers short, a small blue marker appeared on Quinn's HUD, it marked the position of the friendly, as the Autumn roared higher into space, the person stepped out of the turret and walked toward the edge of the platform to watch. They came in low and fast, popping up and causing the soldier to stumble backwards, Quinn stepped out onto the end of the ramp and extended his hand, opening a comm channel. "Get on!". He took note of the person's suit of Spartan armor, it was modified but it was MJOLNIR. The Spartan grabbed Quinn's hand and hopped on. The ramp closed and Saber gunned the engines, trying to catch up with the Pillar of Autumn, which was already three thousand kilometers away.

"Quinn, Cortana is transmuting jump coordinates now, we will be able to follow but not catch up before the jump.". "When they execute the slipspace jump, we will follow immediately after.". "Of course sir.". Quinn slotted Saber into the ship, and the spartans turned to face their new arrival. "What unit are you?". Asked Fred, who had never heard of a Spartan unit named Noble. The person replied with a voice that was masculine. "Noble six, of the late Noble team, the other members are all dead.". Quinn opened a secure channel with Saber. "Find out anything you can about Noble team, I've never heard about them before.". "I'll get back to you in a minute.". Noble Six shifted from foot to foot, Quinn hacked into his suit's bio scans, several torn ligaments, five broken ribs, a dislocated shoulder and both achilles tendons ripped. "Report to the medical bay Spartan, you need treatment.". He said, Six cocked his head but obeyed, Fred watched him leave, Kelly and Joshua spoke to Fred in what they though were private channels. "What now chief?". Kelly asked, Fred gave an almost imperceptible shrug, very hard to do in the armor. "Sir, I have some data on Noble team, they had a Spartan-II with them, Jorge-052 but according to mission records downloaded from Noble Six's suit, he died destroying a covenant carrier in orbit," Quinn nodded and brought up the DarkBlade files on Jorge while Saber continued. "the rest of noble team is dead, Carter-A259 died crashing a pelican into a Scarab, Kat-B320 died from a needle rifle round to the head, Emile-A239 died fighting a zealot on the MAC turret, and Jun-A266 is missing and presumed dead, according to files I hacked into, all except Jorge are a new breed of Spartans, the S-IIIs.". "Interesting, anything else?". "No further information is available.". "Very good work, what's out ETA to the Autumn?". "They have entered slipspace, followed by several covenant ships, we will follow them in three minutes and thirty-four seconds.". Quinn shut the channel down and addressed the Spartans. "If any of you have injuries get them tended to, if not, head to the cryogenic bay or crew quarters.". Fred stepped forward. "With all due respect, I would like to stay out of cryo for at least two more hours and question Noble Six further.". Quinn nodded from under his hood. "I wont stop you from doing that.". He turned and walked out, heading for the bridge. There was a thump and a feeling of slight disorientation, they had entered slipspace. "Saber, we're a little early aren't we?"

"Sorry sir, but covenant forces almost defected us." "Noted, ETA to coordinates?". "Twenty hours, we won't be able to jump again without proper and extensive repairs to the Shaw Fujikawa drive.". "Understood.". The doors parted for him and he sat in the captain chair, he was asleep without knowing it.

2250 Hours, August 30, 2552 (Military Calendar) / UNSC Resolve, Uncharted System.

"Sir, wake up, we are exiting slipspace now.". Quinn lifted his head, blinking several times and sitting up. "Report.". He said, pulling his hood back up over his head. "None of the Spartans went into cryo, they are all en route to the bridge, and should be here within seconds,". And they were, all four Spartans entered three seconds after Saber finished, but he paused and new calculations were rolling across the readouts. "Quinn, you all should see this.". "Alright, bring up the main viewscreen.". The screen flashed white and stars snapped into view, along with a massive gas giant and an orbiting moon, and a ring structure, the Spartans were captivated by the beauty for a moment but the screen also showed the Autumn. And that sight was enough to get them back to reality. "Go dark and enter the port airlock, contact Cortana to let them know we are coming.". "Yes sir.". Onboard the Autumn, captain Keyes was looking at a readout displaying a giant ring structure. "What the hell is it?". He whispered. Cortana appeared beside him. "Sir, we have an incoming friendly transmission on a secure channel.". "Patch it to my personal comm.". Keyes picked up a small headset and clipped it to his ear. "This is Captain Keyes.". "This is Saber, AI of the Resolve, we dropped off your Spartans during the battle of Reach.". "Yes, I remember you, how did you find us?". "We followed your trajectory through your jump, we have some Spartans on board, we couldn't get all of them.". There was sadness in the AIs voice as he delivered the message. "Dock in the starboard bay, it is empty at the moment.". "We will dock in three.". The channel was closed. "With some Spartans we might have more of a chance to survive." said keyes. "Cortana, thaw the chief.".

The Spartans gathered in the Resolve's small bay. Noble Six was leaning against a wall, Kelly and Joshua were conversing by some crates and Fred stood near the ramp, Quinn strode in, his cloak swirling around his ankles. "We'll be docking with the Autumn shortly.". He said, the Spartans grabbed whatever gear they still had and lined up by the door. Onboard the cruiser, Cortana was defrosting the chief earlier than expected, in preparation for him to meet his surviving Spartans.

There was a dull thump as the Resolve locked into a special port in the Autumn's starboard bay, pulling the stealth ship into a hidden bay. The ramp lowered and the five occupants walked out, armored feet thudding along the metal deck.

several marines and naval crew were on deck, most hadn't seen more than one Spartan before, and now they were seeing four. A small elevator arrived in the hangar and Captain Keyes stepped out. He saluted Fred than held out his hand. "It's good to have you on board Spartans, the Master Chief will be waiting for you on the Cryo deck.". "Thank you sir!". Fred said, not moving an inch from his ramrod stiff stance, Keyes stepped back. "Dismissed.". The Spartan-IIs gave a final salute and left Nobel Six and Quinn alone with Keyes, who first turned to the cloaked man. "Who are you?". He inquired, his gaze seeming to pierce the shadow that was cast over Quinn's face by the black hood. "Quinn.". "Who are you with? ONI?". "I'm not authorized to tell you and you are not authorized to know, I am sorry captain.". Keyes nodded. 'Definitely ONI'. He thought. Quinn stepped backwards and moved around Keyes. "I must attend to something, excuse me.". When he had left, only Keyes and Six remained, The corner of Keyes's eyes crinkled in a small smile. "Good to see you made it Noble Six, I'm sorry for the loss of your squadmate, he was a good fighter.". Six nodded. "Thank you sir.". "You are dismissed Spartan.". "Yes sir.". Six saluted and walked away, heading for the small section of the ship that was designated for Spartans.

The Cryo bay was empty save for John-117, who stood with his hand behind his back, awaiting his Spartans arrival. Cortana had said five people had come aboard, three of which were his Spartans, Fred, Kelly and Joshua.

The doors hissed open and they marched in, stopping a meter away and saluting, precise and curt, just like they'd been trained, he returned the salute and they relaxed. "What happened to the others?". He asked, Fred stepped forward. "I left most of them at the generator complexes while Kelly, Joshua and I went to take out a large ground force, then three cruisers came down and blasted the complexes, I don't know how many got away.". John nodded. "I understand Fred, I would have done the same thing in your position.". Kelly was the one to break the silence that settled over the Spartans. "Was your mission a success chief?". John's shoulders sagged slightly. "James's pack ruptured and we lost him, and linda is in cryo, mortally wounded, but we got the mission done." Kelly nodded slowly, and another silence settled over the group, but it was once again broken, Cortana's voice crackled over the comm. "Chief, the captain wants you on the bridge, covenant ships are moving in fast, bring the others as well.". "Copy that, let's move Spartans!". They snapped to attention and followed him, Cortana's voice was broadcasting over the intercom. "All marines, the covenant are launching boarding parties, prepare to repel boarders. Incoming pulse lasers, all hands brace for impact and maneuvering!". There was a pair of dull thumps and squeals as two pulse lasers connected and armor was vaporized and cracked.

The Spartans were halfway to the bridge when the boarding craft began to connect, dozens of marines fought dozens of covenant warriors throughout the ship. The Spartans lent a hand when they could but didn't waist time getting to the bridge.

Quinn was speaking with Lieutenant Haverson, the DarkBlade ONI operative aboard the Autumn when the alarms came on, Quinn grabbed Haverson's shoulder as the man moved away. "Remember, do not break your cover for whatever reason.". The LT nodded and hurried off, Quinn headed for the bridge even before Saber announced that Cortana was contacting him, her voice filtered into his speakers. "Quinn, head for the bridge, the captain would lime to discuss our current situation.". "Roger.". He replied and closed the channel, he was near the bridge already. He almost fell when something hit the ship a dozen meters back, the air heated up and he spotted a meter wide section of armor sag slightly, a pair of marines in EVA armor rushed over, wheeling a thick slab of titanium over and pulling out a pair of ARC welders, they fused the plate to the hull, effectively staving off decompression, but the inner airlocks closed just in case. Quinn arrived on the bridge just before the Spartans.

"Captain.". He said, Keyes was looking at the main view, a ring structure was displayed on the holo-screen, along with the position of the Autumn and the two dozen covenant ships. "Quinn, Cortana says that we are running out of options, what do you suggest?". The bridge crew turned toward the doors when they parted to admit the Spartan-IIs and Nobel Six.

The spartans snapped to attention, Keyes saluted them. "Good to see you again master chief, now, I'm sure Cortana briefed you on your way here.". The Spartans nodded. John eyed Quinn from behind his visor, and the memory of the funeral popped into his head, seeing a cloaked figure by the door. But he was snapped back to the present when the ship shook. "Ma'am,". Called one of the techs, speaking to Cortana. "fire control for the main cannon is offline!". "Captain, that cannon was my last defensive option!". Keyes grimaced and eyed the holographic display. "That does it, I am initiating Cole protocol, Article two, we are abandoning the autumn, that means you too Cortana.". "While you what? Go down with the ship!". The AI shot back.

"In a manner of speaking," Keyes replied. "the object we found—I'm going to try and land the Autumn on it.".

Cortana shook her head. "With all due respect sir. . . this war has enough dead heroes.". There was another dull shudder, Quinn stepped forward. "Captain, we need to move, there isn't much time before the ship is unable to take any more punishment.". Keyes nodded, and after Cortana uploaded a series of emergency landing zones to his neural lace, she dumped herself into a data chip. "Yank me.". Keyes pulled the chip out and it glowed a cool blue. "Master chief, get Cortana off this ship, if the covenant capture her, they'll learn everything. Force deployment, weapons research.". He paused, then said. "Earth.". He handed the chip to the chief who slotted it into his helmet, a stab of ice in his brain followed.

"I understand sir.". Keyes saluted and the Spartans filed out, Kelly tossed her assault rifle to the chief and unslung her shotgun.

"Lifeboats, or the Resolve?". Asked Quinn, who strode alongside them. "Whatever can get us off the ship faster.". Said John, as he checked the clip in his rifle.

"I'll try and get as many people as I can onboard, no need to waste space and lives.". Quinn said. "I'll see you at the ship.". And with that he disappeared, from sight and radar.

Quinn manuvered through the corridors and hallways of the cruiser, encountering small bands of human soldiers and crew-members, still trying to fight off the boarders, he bumped into a band of three elites on his way past the barracks, blue bloodstains on the walls and three alien corpses were evidence of how that encounter ended.

His presence was undetected as he moved through the ship, a group of about fifty soldiers and crew were following, when the arrived at the Resolve, the ramp automatically lowered to admit him, the humans piled in, there was room enough for at least twenty others.

Quinn had Saber initiate the startup sequence, so the engines would be hot for takeoff when the Spartans arrived. The thirty crewmembers busied themselves with loading crates of supplies and ammunition while the marines covered the doors.

John, Kelly, Fred, Joshua and Six arrived eight minutes after Quinn, they had alien bloodstains on them and their weapons were smoking slightly, the humans spotted them and redoubled their efforts to load cargo, they would be leaving very soon, and it was best to get as much as they could.

There was a thump as the autumn enters the upper atmosphere of 'Halo' as Cortana said the covenant called it. Saber gunned the Resolves' engines and they shot out, leaving a trail of smoke behind them. The view was stunning, broken only by the autumn, and several dozen tiny lines of smoke generated by the escaping pelicans and dozens of life boats and drop pods.

"Saber, mark the locations of those lifeboats and drop pods, well need to pick them up ASAP.". "Yes sir.". Blue nav markers appeared where the pods and boats would land.

Keyes and the bridge crew were strapped in and their lifeboat was just leaving when Keyes frown, as if looking for something. He leaned toward the marine seated across from him. "Excuse me corporal.".

"Sir?". The man looked exhausted and somehow managed to come to a form of attention despite being strapped to an acceleration chair.

"Hand me your sidearm son.".

The expression on his face made it clear the last thing he wanted to do was part with one of his weapons, particularly in close quarters, but the captain was the captain. The words 'yes sir' were just forming in his brain when Keyes pulled the pistol out of the holster. Would the rounds pierce the thin hull and cause a blowout? Killing everyone onboard? Keyes didn't know, but one thing was certain; the covenant SOB on board was going to die. He aimed very carefully at the shimmering spot at the rear and pulled the trigger.

The third shot blew elite brains across the hatch, and the active camouflage deactivated, everyone except Keyes was startled when a dead elite materialized in their midst. Their surprise was so great, that coupled with the blood and brains, no one noticed the hole in the hull, one bullet had went clean through the elite and punctured the titanium, not completely through, but deep enough to sever a wire, the wire that powered their rescue beacon.

The ODSTs onboard the Autumn hit dirt a full twenty minutes before all the others, and had gathered on a butte and set up several trenches and walls of dirt as temporary fortifications, Quinn circled the site with the prowler before initiating a VTOL style landing.

The prowler took up most of the free space, the Spartans and other navy personnel disembarked and unloaded the supplies, the ODSTs greeted their fellows with slaps on the back and grins, and the Spartans with scowls and cold nods.


	6. Chapter 5

Chapter 5

Under the command of Major Silva, the ODSTs were busy in three groups, one stayed behind on their low rise, to fortify it until they could find a better position. The second group was headed to a butte currently controlled by the covenant, and the third group was heading to a rendezvous with several pelicans which had escaped the Autumn. Minutes after their landing, the Spartans witnessed the Autumn streak overhead and touch down violently in the distance.

The Spartans stayed together and headed out to rescue downed life boats. Quinn attended to his own agenda. Firstly, he took the Resolve into a high orbit in cloak, and nailed down the positions of most of the lifeboats, the crash site of the Autumn, and the positions of many covenant infantry groups, he deployed three Black Widow comm satellites and linked them to Cortana and Silva's AI Wellsley.

"Saber, anything abnormal?". He asked his AI as they slowly returned to the ring's surface. "No sir, the assault on the butte is about to begin, and the ODSTs have reached the pelicans, but Major Silva's position is about to be attacked by over one hundred ghosts.". Quinn sat up.

"What is the Resolve's armament?".

"Three rotating turrets and six Archer pods sir.".

"Get us down there and use half of one pod on the ghost forces, try and scare them off.". "Gladly.". Saber gunned the engines and the prowler shot forward, entered the atmosphere and activated it's flaps, causing the ship to slow down dramatically, it drifted on nothing but momentum over the horde of covenant light attack vehicles. The forward archer pod's top seven missiles flared to life and lanced forward, before arcing down and striking in the middle of the formation, throwing plumes of pulverized rock, dirt, bodies and ghost pieces into the air.

The humans below cheered and laughed as the surviving two dozen ghosts turned and boosted away, Quinn fired the forward turret just to make sure they didn't turn back.

He scanned the ship readings and paused when Saber appeared on the projection tank. "I have located captain Keyes, he is north of out position, and covenant forces are closing in, I suggest moving to intercept.".

"Punch it.". Replied Quinn, pulling his collapsable MA8B from the small of his back, when he held the grip, it registered the pressure and uncollapsed to it's full length. He checked to make sure it was loaded and chambered a round, and slotted a pair of knives into their slots on his arms.

"ETA, three minutes.". Said saber.

Captain Jacob Keyes stood, hands on knees, panting in front of a vertical cliff face. He and the rest of the command team had been running on and off for three hours. Even the marines were exhausted, he felt bad about leaving Dowski behind, but she had been near mutiny and had wanted to surrender, so they had let her, albeit forcibly. As the shadow cast by the covenant dropship drifted over them and blocked the sun keyes considered making use of Dowski's pistol to fire at the aircraft to fire at the airship, but couldn't summon the energy. The voice that boomed through the external speakers was all too familiar.

"Captain Keyes? This is Ellen Dowski. This is a box canyon. There's no place for you to run. You might as well pack it in.".

The aircraft lowered itself into the canyon, in a sheltered spot, safe from other aircraft, from the sides spilled six elite veterans and fifteen grunts, a hatch opened and Dowski stepped out, walking towards keyes and the others seeming unharmed and wearing what could only be described as a self satisfied smirk.

"You see, it's a like I told you, they won't kill us.". Gravel crunched as the elites and grunts, all heavily armed, formed a half circle around the humans and the leader spoke, his voice was choppy as he spoke English.

"You will drop your weapons now.". The command crew looked to Keyes, who shrugged, bent over and laid his weapon on the ground, the grunts scurried forward and collected the weapons. One of them chortled in his own language as he collected the marines' assault weapons.

"Which?". Demanded the lead elite, Dowski pointed at Keyes.

"That one!". The renegade officer proclaimed.

Hikowa started forward. "You little bi...". No one ever found out what she would have done, because the elite shot her dead. Keyes lunged at the alien but a lightning fast blow clipped his head, his vision grayed and he fell to the dirt.

The elite moved to shoot the marine furthest to the right, but at that moment there was a road and a UNSC prowler banked over the cliff top. A single figure dropped from the hangar, too close for missiles, the prowler was forced to back off.

Fabric billowed behind the figure as they fell ninety feet and landed to the right of the group of aliens. The cloak settled and the figure shouldered a sleek looking assault rifle, the barrel flash and bullets streaked from it.

Grunts squealed and toppled, the elites recovered faster, one grabbed a still dazed Keyes, and dragged him towards the dropship, while the others formed a barrier, firing back at the cloaked human.

Quinn methodically swept his sights over the remaining grunts before reloading and fired upon the retreating elites, they had Keyes. The other humans, had recovered their own weapons and were finding as well. With the combined fire, three of the veteran elites were wounded and two were killed, Quinn focused his fire on the wounded ones, as they jumped backwards into the dropship troop pods, the ship took off, and Quinn ceased firing, he stared at it's retreating form.

"Saber, track Keyes's implants, I need to know where they are taking him.".

"Tracking sir, I'm coming in for a landing.". The prowler appeared once again, the bay door was open and the ship hovered a meter off the ground, the door forming a ramp.

Quinn waved the surviving crew inside, they carried the body of a woman with them, and one human simply stood there, stunned, two of the marines stalked back over to her and dragged her onto the ship, one tied her up and the other kept watch. Quinn walked up to the man his suit tagged as Lieutenant Dominique, second in command of the bridge crew.

"Lieutenant, what's going on with her?". He asked, gesturing to the woman his suit tagged as Ensign Dowski. The lieutenant replied wit a look of disgust on his face.

"She betrayed us to the covenant, and now they have Keyes.". He crossed his arms and turned away from Dowski, who was sent, seemingly too stunned to speak.

While they were heading to alpha base, Quinn was walking past the marine guarding her when he heard the click of a bullet being chambered, the marine was muttering to himself.

"Fuck this, might as well kill her now, traitor.". He aimed the barrel subtly at Dowski's head, and his finger moved toward the trigger.

Quinn's hand was a blur as he grabbed the M6D from the marines hand, dropped the clip and pulled the slid back, causing the remaining bullet to pop out, it clattered to the floor. The marine started up but stopped when he found himself starring into the shadow from the hood that shrouded Quinn's face.

"Wether she lives or dies is a matter for her superior to decide private.". He handed the unloaded weapon back to the stunned marine.

"But if you kill her, you will answer to me. I will not have executions on my ship.". He staked off, leaving the man standing dumbly, his hand loosely holding the pistol, when it slipped and dropped he started, and shakily picked it up.

The rest of the trip to Alpha base was uneventful, and when they landed in a hidden cave connected to the base, Dowski was escorted to a cell, and the bridge crew were shown to quarters. Quinn took saber from the ship and headed for Major Silva's office, which he was directed to by some ODSTs.

The door was guarded by two Helljumpers, as he approached they eyes him with veiled suspicion, Quinn could vaguely make out Silva speaking to someone inside. It was muffled but his augmented ears picked it up through the door as he slowly approached.

"Record." he whispered to saber, who flashed a silent acknowledgement.

"Familiar with your record and I admire it, your one helluva soldier. That said. You are also a freak, the last remaining subject of a terribly flawed experiment, one that should never be repeated.". Silva went on to explain his opinions on the Spartans. Calling them augmented freaks, failed experiments among others. Quinn felt his temper flare as he flashed his high security ONI 'all access' pass. The Helljumpers saluted but the smaller one stepped forward slightly.

"I'm sorry, but the major asked not to be disturbed sir.". Quinn turned his head towards him, the man backed down after half a second of staring into the black maw. Quinn tapped the access button and the door slid open, just as the Major was finished and the chief answered him.

"Sir no Sir!". The major looked up, as did the woman to his left, Quinn suit tagged her as Lieutenant McKay.

"Major.". Quinn said, moving to stand to the right of the person Silva had been speaking to, it could only be one person, John. The Spartan glanced at him, and Quinn nodded subtly, almost imperceptible.

"I gave strict orders not to be disturbed.". Said Silva obviously irked. Quinn showed his ONI card and Siiva swore quietly.

"Shit, damn ONI.". He sighed and turned to face Quinn fully.

"What can I do for you?". Quinns temper was still flared from sliva's comments about the Spartans, and there were several things he wanted to do to the major at the moment, but he contained his temper and he drew his hand out from within the depth of his cloak, holding a memory cube.

"This contains the data on the whereabouts of almost all covenant ships and ground forces, as well as predictions of future deployment methods and troop movements.".

The major plucked the blue cube from his armored hand placed it into his computer, he ran the data and took it out again, telling McKay to give it to the techs.

"Anything else?".

"Yes, I will require the Spartans and at least two volunteer squads of Marines to recover Keyes, my AI has tracked him to a damaged covenant cruiser that has landed on the ring.". Silva nodded.

"Just gather whoever you need, sir.". He added the sir with a slightly disgusted tone, but Quinn ignored him. He turned to John.

"Master Chief you are dismissed to gather your Spartans and ready for combat.". John stood, saluted and left the room, Quinn caught Silva burning holes into the back of his head with his eyes. As he left, Quinn turned and looked back.

"Major, one more thing, the Master Chief deserves every form of respect, even from you, the Spartans aren't freaks.". He left the room, Silva paled slightly.

By the time it had turned to 'night', Quinn, twenty ODSTs and marines as well as the remaining Spartans were in pelicans en route to the covenant cruiser, they were armed with silenced ARs and snipers, as well as shotguns and two SPNKR launchers.

The Dark Spartan stood in the middle of the troop bay, along with the other Spartans and a few marines, all of the marines in the pelican were feeling the pre-mission adrenaline rush and jitters, it was evident in the way that they fidgeted and looked generally nervous, or it could have been being in such close proximity to five of the most intimidating and ready warriors in history.

After ten minutes in the rocking troop bay, the pelicans set down and disgorged their troops. Quinn assembled them around him.

"Alright! We all know why we are here, so let's get too it and give those covenant SOBs one hell of a night!". He said, and the marines gave a quiet ooh-rah! Of approval. They silently moved toward the covenant guard posts.

Quinn activated his closing systems and shimmered out of existence, he walked up to an elite and snapped it's neck, catching the body before it fell and lowering it to the ground, two more elites died to the other Spartans, the first guardpost went silently, not a single covenant escaped them, but then a pair of grunts rounded the far corner, and saw the dead, and screamed, running and flailing their arms, John raised his silenced MA5B, it coughed three times, alien blood splashed over the rocks and with a pair of gurgles, the grunts fell dead, one landed in his plasma pistol, discharging the weapon, there were distant elite yells and the sound of weapons and turrets powering up, Quinn drew his MA8B, it snapped into attack position.

"This is just getting good.". He said, and rounded the corner, surprising the elites with a hail of silenced AP bullets.

"Weapons hot marines!". He yelled, and the humans forces, including the Spartans, founded the corner and moved down the path, killing any aliens they saw.

A/N: I am SO sorry this chapter took so long to come out, my deepest apologies to everyone, I just had major writers block, and started work on Collision. So I'll try and get then next one out ASAP if my personal life and school permit it.


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